"..."
Hanta drew out his iron sword.
A large spray of blood splattered from the Goddess Cultist's body.
They were currently attacking a stronghold of the Goddess Cult. Following recent activities, the population of the Goddess Cult here had surpassed 500 people. More than half of them possessed significant combat power, and that young Bishop had even reached the level of a 'Demon King'.
He looked toward the center of the mountain stronghold, where Miss Alice was currently fighting that Bishop. Their battle made him feel as if there was no place for him to intervene. He was merely a Mithril-ranked Adventurer, existing in a completely different dimension from those legendary 'Demon Kings' and 'Heroes'. A single strike from Miss Alice or that Bishop could kill someone like him at any moment, so he didn't even consider approaching that battlefield.
Hanta looked at the surrounding Goddess Cultists, who were radiating bloodlust, and gave a characteristically dashing smile. "Ha! Who else wants to die? Step forward! I'll let you know that I, once known as 'Iron Peak Hanta', haven't earned my reputation for nothing!"
Facing the man's provocation, the Goddess Cultists began casting spells without a word. For a moment, the entire field of vision was filled with fireballs flying everywhere. If he hadn't received guidance from the Sword Saint recently and improved his strength, Hanta felt he would certainly be dead to the point where even resurrection magic couldn't bring him back. But now, he was no longer the man he used to be; having received the Sword Saint's guidance, he had undergone a complete transformation and entered a brand-new realm.
Facing such an onslaught, he used the mental acceleration martial art [Flowing Water Acceleration] and the dash-enhancing martial art [Instant Flash] to charge into the crowd. Then, with a flash of sword light, the martial art [Sword Saint's Personal Teaching: Iron Peak Secret Technique - Flowing Dance Reincarnation] was activated. That sword light passed through the crowd like flowing water or drifting clouds; one by one, the cultists' necks were slashed by the sharp blade, followed by sprays of blood.
The martial art [Flowing Dance Reincarnation] was a unique secret technique developed by the Sword Saint based on sword skill combos.
It utilized ultra-high-speed capabilities to deal fatal damage to multiple enemies in an instant. Theoretically, as long as one's own speed and attack power were high enough, it was a wide-range move capable of annihilating an enemy army in a very short time. To learn this secret technique, one first needed to master thought acceleration and impact-enhancing skills. Furthermore, even if one mastered the move, if their own attack power was insufficient, they wouldn't be able to pierce enemy armor to complete the kill. In essence, it was just a basic attack skill used by the Sword Saint to clear out fodder, but for Hanta to use it, it required a massive expenditure of energy.
Hanta panted heavily, turning around with his iron sword as the corpses of over twenty people behind him collapsed simultaneously.
As a gust of wind blew past, the man looked at this moment to have the elegant demeanor of a sword master.
Hanta's heart was incredibly excited. This was his first time using this secret technique in actual combat, and its power was simply too great. At the moment he drew his sword, he even felt as if he were omnipotent. That mental state under the accelerated condition was simply addictive.
It was an indescribable feeling. In that moment, the world seemed to stand still, and he was free within that world. At the moment of the sword swing, the enemies had no time to react at all. It lasted only the duration of a single breath, yet it felt as long as a century.
Finally, when the state ended, all sensations sublimated in an instant. That feeling was incredibly exhilarating, and at that time, he had even reached a point where he felt terrified of his own self.
As expected of the Sword Saint's unique martial art!
Seeing the strength Hanta displayed, even the fanatical cultists found this man troublesome for a moment. Although the Bishop was pinning down that terrifying Puppeteer, this man, who initially looked weak, actually knew such exquisite swordsmanship, which truly exceeded everyone's expectations.
No one present could see that move clearly just now; they only felt as if they saw a gale or a waterfall plunging down. With a flash of sword light, the lives of more than twenty people were ended at the same time.
This man's actual strength might not be that great.
However, he possessed 'Hero' level techniques and was by no means a weakling.
On a nearby mountain, Tsukasa, suspended in the air using [Fly] magic, watched the battle below, observing the methods used by these Goddess Cultists.
She finally confirmed that the skills used by the Goddess Cult were indeed skills she possessed. However, they hadn't just obtained her skills; they had even developed entirely new ones. For example, the Bishop who was currently holding his own against Alice—the skill he possessed was Alchemy Magic, but based on Alchemy Magic, this guy had developed a unique secret technique called Bomb Transmutation. Anything touched by the magic circle on his hand would turn into a bomb. One of Alice's small puppets had been turned into a bomb and blown to bits because she hadn't been careful at the start, which successfully enraged Alice.
"I didn't expect such a harvest."
Tsukasa felt her gradually increasing power and the newly
acquired skills, her emotions becoming very complex for a moment.
Because these Goddess Cultists would sacrifice all their power to the 'Goddess' upon death, she not only received the stat points fed back from them but could even obtain the new skills these cultists had developed. She had clearly come to kill them, yet she hadn't expected these people to sacrifice everything to her after death. Although she knew these people actually worshipped the 'Goddess of Dusk' in their minds rather than her, she was indeed the beneficiary.
For a moment, she even wondered if she was being a bit too much, but then she looked at what these people had done recently. They had slaughtered two cities. Even if the population of this world wasn't huge, two cities combined still amounted to over ten thousand people.
The Goddess Cult had gone to such lengths that even if she hadn't wanted this cult from the start, it would be impossible for her to protect them now even if she wanted to.
Rather, she now had to eradicate this evil cult, as it was no longer just about suppressing the 'witch factor' inside her body.
It was because she was truly afraid that someone would follow the clues and discover that she was that 'Goddess of Dusk'. By then, she would surely be forced to become the enemy of the world. She didn't have the power to oppose an entire world, and since she didn't want to travel to an unknown world just yet, she still wanted to live a peaceful life in this one.
So, even if the loyalty of the Goddess Cult gave her a bit of a shock, it couldn't change her mind.
Besides, she was very clear on one fact.
That was, these people from the Goddess Cult would never listen to her. Even if she commanded them in her capacity as the 'Goddess', it would be useless, because they were servants chosen by the witch factor for its awakening.
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